Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid noted that the US “core inflation rate matched the consensus forecast of 4.3% and was lower than the previous month’s 4.7%.”

“This indicates that the underlying inflationary pressures have gradually eased, setting the stage for a likely unchanged stance (in US interest rates).

“However, the US headline inflation for August was higher than expected at 3.7% year-on-year, up from the previous month’s 3.2%, surpassing the consensus estimate of 3.6%,” he told Bernama.

Consequently, he said the market can anticipate some positive movement in the ringgit today, given that the exchange rate has already reached an oversold position from a technical perspective.

At 9.05am, the local note rose to 4.6750/4.6800 against the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.6785/4.6835.

The ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.

It depreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.1781/3.1817 from 3.1742/3.1778 on Wednesday’s close and fell against the British pound to 5.8433/5.8495 from 5.8308/5.8370 and was unchanged against the euro at 5.0200/5.0254.

The local note also traded mixed against other Asean currencies.

It ticked down vis-à-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.4385/3.4427 from 3.4358/3.4400 at Wednesday’s close and was lower versus the Thai baht to 13.1011/13.1203 from 13.0809/13.1003.

It appreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 304.1/304.6 from 304.3/304.8 from the previous day’s close and was unchanged against the Philippine peso at 8.24/8.26.